158 E. J. Welsford. 
Germination of Ascospores. 
The ripe ascospores are ejected in large numbers at about 
mid-day, and may be readily collected on a cover slip arranged 
above the ascocarp. After exposure for about twenty-four hours, 
in watery extract of cow dung, to a temperature of 38°c. that of the 
body of a cow, the spores germinated. The dung extract was either 
used alone, or was preceded by treatment with the various digestive 
fluids. It was also found possible to obtain germination in a 
centinormal solution of sodium carbonate, but in this case the germ 
tubes were badly developed, probably owing to the lack of food 
material. The methods used are fully described by Fraser (7) for 
Lachnea stercorea in which similar results were obtained. 
The Development op the Ascocarp. 
The ascocarp, in its earliest stages, shows a scolecite of from 
six to ten usually similar cells arising from a dense tangle of 
mycelial hyphse. As a rule the scolecite soon becomes very much 
curved over, and a differentiation of the cells takes place, those 
towards the middle of the branch becoming considerably larger 
than the rest, and the whole structure at the same time rapidly 
covered by a sheath of branched hyphae. In section the cells of 
the young scolecite are seen to be rich in protoplasm, and to contain 
each a single large nucleus. This stage was rarely found, and 
probably lasts only a short time, the cells soon becoming multi- 
nucleate; figure 3 shows a young scolecite in which the nuclei have 
already begun to divide, and in figure 4 each cell contains several 
nuclei. As the cells become multinucleate they increase in size 
and the ascocarp is seen to consist of a many layered sheath, 
surrounding the archicarp, of which one cell, generally the fourth 
from the apex, is larger than the rest and shows small outgrowths 
which eventually develop as the ascogenous hyphre. This is 
therefore the ascogenous cell and corresponds morphologically to 
the ascogonium of such forms as Humaria granulata. The 
transverse walls of the scolecite are perforated medianly by large 
circular pores; these are shown in figures 5 and 6, that in figure 6 
measuring 5/x in diameter. Pores could not be identified in the 
earliest stages of development and it seems possible they may be of 
secondary formation. The nuclei with the cytoplasm of the several 
cells pass through the pores till they reach the ascogenous cell, 
where they fuse in pairs (figures 7, 8, 9). The fusion nuclei pass 
into the ascogenous hyplue (figure 10) and the ascogonium becomes 
